ENV 320W Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Ronald Dworkin, Anthropocentrism, Herbivore

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV 320W
• Professor: Dan Hooley

Document Summary

World should be created without killing of other conscious individuals: universal veganism. Factory farms are worse compared to natural world: lifetime torture, raised in captivity. Not possible with current scientific understanding: catastrophic effects. Control species & extinction selection (eliminate carnivores if we could without ecological disruption) Playing god -> obstructed medical practices, facilitated suicides, etc: argument 1: if injecting analgesics to patient who"ll die as side effect isn"t play. God, why is patient approved lethal injections: argument 2: not playing god no deity"s prerogatives we might usurp, too late to fix our actions but only control it for best moral outcomes. Against nature ->presupposes an indefensible metaphysics: argument: no reason for species to have special sanctity because it"s from evolution. Animals have own life, we have no right to intrude/impose anthropocentric values: argument: not morally required to prevent suffering in wild (not responsible) but we have a moral reason to, suffering is bad with or without human involvement.